Here's a fun new site that provides some nice simple drawing challenges for artists of all ages.
Nothing says that images you post there can't also be posted here.
There may be some here that find it interesting.

Ross is a great guy and his enthusiasm is contagious.
He plans to improve the site as he finds time.
I'm sure he'd love to have you visit.

Sketch Monster

There is no winning of anything.
Its just drawing for the fun of it.

There have been two categories so far; monster sketches and word animals.
I've entered two images so far.

Its free but watch the image sizes/resolution (limits say maximum image size 150K and 500x500)

...and did I mention its fun?

Rodney

Great idea Rodney. Checked out the site and it looks really fun. The graphics look like they are done mostly with digiart, but I think they would take any medium you choose to submit.

Its always good to have a great Scout in the crowd. I have been frequenting a site, rather a Megasite, called Wet Canvas! No, not what you think, it really does deal with art. They have a channel/portal for almost any type of art medium you can think of complete with forums, critiques, galleries, and training lessons. The lessons are a little hokey because they are archives of threads of classes conducted at the site. You have to wade through a lot of chatter just to get to the real meat of them. The forums are very large and move rapidly, and it pushes a lot of advertising down your throat. But, with time, if you get your navigation skills in order, you can find some real goodies.

One of the things that interests me most, and is also right along the same lines as your site, is the Weekend Drawing Events (WDE) and the Weekly Drawing Threads (WDT). They both offer a challenge to test your drawing skills to their fullest extent possible. The weekend event has everybody using the same reference photo, while the weekly thread allows you to choose from several photos. Everybody is very nice and provide encouragement and comments on your work as you post it. I've done two of them already and I am working on the weekly one now. I have posted my two latest works I did through them in my Gallery on this site. Like you said, it shouldn't matter where you get your influence from, just as long as you have a home to share it in.

Wet Canvas!

Drop by sometime and check it out. Be forewarned though, you could get lost in there.

Eric
"Squintilators Up"

Eric,
Nice site.
You are right. Looks like you can dig very deep.

There is so much out there sometimes you just have to step back and stop were you are.
I like were I 'are' right now.

Long live WWW.DRAWSPACE.COM!

Im going to have a lookie and see but at the moment i have no time to sit and do any art.. hmm maybe i should stop the natter .. but if i did i would have to unpack all my art gear and i know you would miss me posting any hoo

No time to sit and do any art?

Thats crazy talk.

Priorities woo.... priorities!

Im actually in the middle of moving and have packed it all away .. the nearest im getting to any painting is with a 2 inch brush and a roller i am however thinking of doing a bathroom mural of a blue mermaid just a small one though always wanted to do one of those .. any help or suggestions on how i go about it would be muchly aprciated

If you want my personal opinion, I think it's rude to come onto someone's site and plug other sites. Many forum administrators will ban you for it. It costs Brenda a lot of money to run this site, and though she is a little more lenient than some, but I think we ought to respect her enough not to advertise other art sites.

Just as an aside, I tried the lessons at WetCanvas, and I found that they were not really geared toward beginners, which I was at the time. It seemed to me that they were more of a refresher course for accomplished artists. I mean seriously, I was getting chewed for doing/omitting stuff I hadn't even heard of. They weren't nearly as supportive and encouraging as the folks on this site.

I agree with you. I respect you for posting that too.
I know it might not seem like I agree by posting this topic.

If you'll look at the Sketch Monster site you'll see Brenda has absolutely nothing to worry about there.
I should have foreseen the ramifications of my post.
It would have been easy to predict that others would see it as an opportunity to post more links.

I'm aware of the focus of drawspace.
I agree Sketch Monster isn't very relevant.
If there was an Off Topic area I certainly would have posted it there.
I want to encourage artists to use drawspace so another similar link elsewhere directs other people here.
Call it promotion. Call it insensitivity. Call it a mistake.

I'll learn.
Best way to learn sometimes is to post and get good feedback... like yours.
The Admins/Brenda are always welcome to ask me to leave.

Best,
Rodney

I see no problem with posting links like this. If he was saying "THIS PLACE HAS LESSONS BETTER THAN BRENDAS GO HERE LOL", or "this forum is totally better than here JOIN MY FORUM" then yeah, that's rude and shouldn't be posted. But people should be encouraged to point out other fun art related sites! The internet is a big place, we should point out all the interesting and useful things we find so others don't miss out

For example, somewhere I like to go for inspiration is www.cgtalk.com. A lot of the artists there are phenomenal, and I can spend hours just browsing through the work they've produced or participating in their daily sketches. It's not really a good place for a beginner as most of the artists are professionals or at least incredibly talented, and can be quite harsh with criticism, but you can learn a lot from lurking around or having them tear apart your artwork and give advice. Personally, I prefer smaller, friendlier communities like this one

I found my way to drawspace.com through an off topic post in the animation master forum. I love it when people plug off topic but related sites that might be of interest to other members, it can sometimes be a good thing. If it weren't for that I never would've known about this site (which has a lot to offer by the way).
Anyways, thanks for the heads up and I'll remember not to do that on this forum. Just thought I'd let you know this site is being plugged for on other forums, cause people think it's cool!
Thanks,
Teresa

A few more opinions to round out the discussion... thats always nice.

Please let me be clear here as I'm a moderator myself on a business related site.
Advertising for other sites (i.e. the competition) is generally not acceptable conduct.

In the A:M forum the posts will usually be removed.
This is only fair and is the right of the forum/site owners.

Somewhere between the extremes of all things lies a middle ground.
I like to reserve extremes for animation.

I am not a moderator here and have no aspirations to become one.
I would like to be able to point 3D artists to this site however.

I remain an aspiring hobbyist!
That'll be more than enough to keep me busy.

Added: I'll try to sound less like a moderator too. K?

Best,
Rodney

Oh, oops!
I get it. sorry.

Apologies,
Teresa

Teresa,
You definitely don't need to apologize.
You've nothing to apologize for.

Apologizin' is my job here.

I moderate on a large gaming forum. Threads advertising other forums, products, and ebay actions are deleted unless they have been given permission to post, but there is nothing wrong with a member posting a link to an amusing site, interesting article, or just somewhere fun. I think it's a good thing - it gives everyone something to discuss.

Makes good sense to me Lizzeh.

Im sitting on the fence with this one .. although if it does no harm to this forum then its good to pass on info etc

Hi everyone!

Have I told ya’ll lately how much I love you?!!! What a great bunch you are to respect the site and me by standing up for anything that you see as a potential problem!!! Kudos to everyone!

Oddly enough, I'm a little odd!

I don't have a problem with members posting links here, to any and all art related sites on the Internet. We are all here to learn more about art (yes, me too); hence, the more resources we have, the more we find out. I love looking at the works of other artists, and I’m currently on a quest to dissect the drawings of the masters of the Renaissance and discover their secrets.

In my mind, learning to draw is an infinite quest; the day I’m totally happy with my work is the day I need to quit drawing altogether. When an artist thinks s/he is so good that s/he has nothing else to learn, they stop trying; then, their work becomes sterile, stagnant, and boring.

Any other thoughts on this?

Brenda

Brenda you are awesome!!!
Much respect,
RJS

Thanks for your insight Barbara.

Hi Everyone!!
I am new here to thi site. I agree with Brenda we are all here to learn and other sites posted may bring people with other interest more knowledge that they are trying to find for their particular needs. I for one am interested in anything to do with art. It has always been my passion. So someday I hope to be as good as others.
Thanks,
~Venus

Hey... we are missing the important thing here!

Anybody see my 'spiders' and monster entries?

aww we love you too Brenda

this might help you on your quest

http://us.geocities.com/mot@swbell.net/pyro.html

not sure if thats what you are looking for but there are some references at the bottom of the page that may help



i saw your spider one it was cool looking in a creepy kinda way talking of spiders one ran out of a broom today whilst i was sweeping up it was mahoosive had hairy legs and hobnail boots to match if i gave it a paint brush it would of saved me some time in my decorating i swear it was that big

Now that is a goal!

You wouldn't happen to be looking at the real things would you?
I confess I've never dug into the masters of the Renaissance. I got too distracted at Disney.
The Disney artists were seriously inspired by all those masters though so its not been a bad thing.

BTW - Nice link woo. Very cool.

Im a big da vinci fan not only was he a briliant artist but a genius inventor.. wasnt he the first artist to draw the innards of a body

You guys are great!!

Even though I was a culprit on this one, I also opted to sit on the fence. Thank you Brenda for keeping up with these threads and putting forth your words of wisdom and encouragement. As you can see from my post I meant no harm to the site, as I love it here, and only wanted to add a little additional resoucing for people seeking it.

Again, just to say to the others here, I have been through quite a few art sites looking for something like this place, and now that I've found it, this is my home. The other stuff is nice to look at, but I'll always come back here. *sniff**

And yes Rodney, I confess, I did look at your Spiders and Monster.

The theme for this round at Sketch Monster was 'Polar Sketches'.

I took a memory and refined it this morning.
The image would ideally make a card where the middle penguin is on the front and the others on the folds (folder back on each side).

I should learn to take a little more time on these things as looking back at I see lots of things I would do differently. Some include:

- Use Brenda's perspective lessons!
- Complete the sky on a separate layer and composite later.
- Make each penguin (and iceberg) different.
- Have the other penguins waving. (this was in the original doodle as I recall).
* The waters don't really look at that troubling... rather calming perhaps?
It'd probably be good to put some choppy waves in there no?

The copy:

Front: "When floating through life's troubled waters..."
Inside fold: "Always know you're not alone."



I've added this to my Gallery if anyone would like to comment and/or make suggestions.

I cordially responded in the Gallery, thank you!

Eric